My mom’s got a unit here too with some of my granddad’s stuff in it. Took a bit of digging to get the right unit number for Ethel, but here we are, right? The final barrier!”
Why does he look so baffled?
“All her stuff is still inside, Zan,” I say. “Jackets, pants, purses—”
“You can’t possibly know that, Rico.”
“But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Her son said all her stuff was being held in storage.” I face the door again. “The ticket could totally be in there, you know? All that separates us is this silly orange thing!”
His eyebrows tug even lower. Which I didn’t think was possible. “Okay, hold on,” he says, taking a deep breath like he’s trying to stay patient or something.
It sets me on edge.
“For one,” he says, “pretty sure going into someone’s storage unit without their permission is trespassing. For two: how would you even get in there? It’s locked.” He gestures toward the heavy padlock with his chin.
I smile and remove a hairpin from my bun. “I’m pretty sure I can pick it.”
He pulls his hand from mine then. Steps back. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rico.”
“What?”
“I mean, you said the estate sale is in a month, right? We can be the first customers.”
I shake my head. Primarily to express disagreement, but also to keep from crying. “It’s too risky,” I say. “If he pushes the sale back, we could miss the cutoff for claiming the prize.”
He sighs and drops his head. “Rico, we can’t break into a stranger’s storage unit—”
“She’s hardly a stranger,” I say. “We searched for this woman for months.”
“So now we have a right to go through her stuff? It’s breaking and entering.”
What’s his problem? “Why are you making it sound so criminal? We’re looking for a lottery ticket, not committing burglary.”
He sighs then. “God, I thought we were done with this.” Runs his hands down his face.
Exasperated. And patronizing.
I know the look and the feeling: it’s the same one I used to give Jax when he’d get pushy about us buying something at the store he knew we couldn’t afford (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ben & Jerry’s, anyone?).
Something inside me snaps. “You don’t get it, do you?”
He doesn’t respond.
“God, what am I saying? Of course you don’t get it.”
“What are you talking about, Rico?”
“Need, Zan. You’ve never lacked anything, so you don’t know what it’s like to be in NEED.”
His lips pinch shut.
“Is it that hard to understand?” I say. “My family NEEDS that money.”
“Okay, bu—”
“Jax’s hospital bill was over three hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, there are programs to help, but my mom will still have to file for bankruptcy. We were struggling to make ends meet before, so there’s no way we can work out of a hole that deep.”
“What about your insurance?”
“We don’t have insurance, Zan.”
All the color drains from his face.
“I get that this whole thing’s been a game for you, but for me, it’s the difference between having somewhere to live and being homeless.”
“That’s a little extreme, Rico.”
I sigh. “It’s not, Macklin. We’re behind on the rent. Totally missed it last month with Jax in the hospital, four days late and going to miss it this month too. Mama missed March too.” She was short because she took us on that stupid trip. “We got an eviction notice two days ago. My mom lost one of her jobs because she was spending so much time at the hospital.”
Also lost fifteen pounds, some of her hair, and a decent portion of her will to go on.
When he finally opens his mouth to speak again, I’m expecting him to ask why I didn’t tell him. Righteous indignation of Alexander Gustavo Macklin, prince rescuer of the damsel in distress.
But he doesn’t. “Is that what this has been about since the beginning?”
“What?”
“Helping your mom.” He looks at me. “You pulled me into this under the guise of doing a good deed for an old lady. Has it always been about getting what you need?”
Not sure what to say to that. I guess in the beginning, it was about Ethel, but if I said I never thought about what could be in it for me, I’d be lying. How would I have felt if we’d found her, and she’d thanked us, collected her winnings, and ridden off into the sunset without looking back?
Does it even matter now?
“A lot has changed since we started this. Whatever my initial motives were or weren’t, Ethel Streeter is gone. That ticket